The only French survivor of the women’s table, Clara Burel qualified for the third round of the US Open on Thursday, just like Arthur Rinderknech who benefited from the abandonment of Matteo Berrettini through injury. On the contrary, Gaël Monfils and Arthur Fils were stopped in their path. Of the 24 French people competing in the men’s and women’s tables, four therefore reached the third round, with also Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Bonzi, qualified on Wednesday.
Burel (62nd) therefore offered herself, with panache, the Czech Karolina Pliskova (number 25), 6-4, 6-2. She is already guaranteed to do at least as well as in the 2022 edition, where she had already passed two laps at Flushing Meadows. “The idea was to start the match strong by being super solid from the bottom and to try to attack it as soon as possible,” said the Breton. “It worked well. “While many players do not enjoy the noisy atmosphere of the US Open, the Rennaise “loves being here”.
The next march promises to be high, however, because Burel has an appointment with the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd), semi-finalist of the last two editions and winner in January of the Australian Open. Last year, Sabalenka corrected Burel at Flushing Meadows, already in the third round (6-0, 6-2). This time, “I arrive a little fresher (she had to play three qualifying rounds last year), with a little clearer game,” said the French.
Berrettini gets injured
Among the men, Rinderknech (73rd) also reached the third round, benefiting from the abandonment on injury of the Italian Matteo Berrettini (36th), who twisted his right ankle in the second set. The Frenchman was leading the match 6-4, 5-3 when Berrettini got injured. At 28, Rinderknech had never passed the second round in a Grand Slam tournament. He will face the Russian Andrey Rublev (8th) on Saturday.
For his part, if Arthur Fils (48th) played for the first time a second round in Grand Slam: he sold his skin very dearly but ended up losing 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/ 5), 5-7, 6-4 against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (61st). The match was played out in “a few small details, said the Frenchman. Things I need to learn. He, on the contrary, he was good at it, even though he was young too [22 ans]. »
“End of the fifth [set], I feel like I’m going a little ahead in terms of energy. But he is very good on his two service games, ”said Fils. “It’s experience,” he said. “I know how to approach the next grand slam, in Australia. I take positives from it”, he continued, even if he said he was “very disappointed”.
The Monf does not pass its first balls
In turn, Monfils (162nd) put his rackets away for this edition of the New York Major, after being beaten by the Russian Andrey Rublev (8th) 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. “Gaël is a legend and I knew who would have the support of the whole public. He’s great to watch and it’s normal that the crowd is behind him,” commented Rublev. In difficulty with his service, especially in the first two sets (respectively six and five double faults for a total of 13 over the whole match), Monfils did not manage to pack the match, despite a start in the third set.
“One of my main weapons is dead: I don’t pass a first ball, I can make double faults and I can’t serve in the angles that put me well”, he lamented while saying to himself satisfied overall with his North American tour. After months of nursing a foot and then wrist injury, he reached the round of 16 in Washington, the quarterfinals at the Masters 1000 in Toronto and again the 8th at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati with three wins against Top 15 players. worldwide (Tsitsipas, Norrie and De Minaur).